If you are in Beijing or Shanghai and you are thinking of undertaking an MBA why don’t you come and meet us at the QS MBA Fair in your city? The Beijing Fair is on 6 November and we touch down in Shanghai on 8 November. There will be an opportunity to speak to alumni and hear about their experiences and also how the Edinburgh MBA has helped them in their careers. A bit far to go? If you are in Edinburgh then you may wish to join us for the Business School Postgraduate Open Day on 12 November.

Did you see the recent death of an icon by the way? Sony is to discontinue its Walkman portable cassette player because mp3 players and iPods have rendered it obsolete. The Walkman was first launched in 1979 and Sony sold 220 million Walkmans in around 30 years. For comparison Apple has sold about 250 million iPods in just nine years. Makes you think, ehh?

This week is a bit more quiet on the MBA. We don’t have any classes this week but take the time out to do Situational Leadership and presentation skills and there will be a chance to catch up with the reading. After this, we have another four weeks of classes with a week-long course in Strategic Management taking centre stage in the final week.

If so then you’ve come to the right place. The University of Edinburgh Business School has now launched a specialist Masters Programme in Carbon Finance. This programme, the first of its kind in the World, will site nicely with our established Masters in Carbon Management. Both programmes fits with the School’s decision to make Business and Climate Change one of our key areas of focus. Of course you don’t get a cleaner world simply from trading carbon but these programmes are about so much more and from the MBA viewpoint the programmes “spill over” and we are then able to offer electives to the MBA in selected areas as well. Speaking of the MBA, this is the fourth week of classes. Can you believe it? It’s interesting to observe the group dynamics and friendships develop. Despite the workload the group still finds time for social stuff and this is essential of course.

During my lunch beak I was catching up with the news and despite the longevity of this the story about the Chilean miners still catches my eye. You will probably know that 33 miners have been trapped more than 600 metres below ground since 5 August when the mine shaft collapsed. The amazing things is that all survived and if all goes well the rescue team will within the next 24 hours begin to transport the miners to the surface using a new rescue shaft. Obviously the excitement is mounting but I just hope these poor people will not be hauled off to press conferences but be given a chance to come to terms with the miracle of being alive after this ordeal in peace and quite with their families.